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Este, Italian noble family

(Encyclopedia)Este ĕsˈtā [key], Italian noble family, rulers of Ferrara (1240–1597) and of Modena (1288–1796) and celebrated patrons of the arts during the Renaissance. Probably of Lombard origin, they took ...

Gratian, Italian legal scholar

(Encyclopedia)Gratian, fl. 1140, Italian legal scholar, founder of the science of canon law. Almost nothing is known of his life beyond the fact that he was a monk, almost certainly Camaldolite, and that he taught ...

Giovanni delle Bande Nere

(Encyclopedia)Giovanni delle Bande Nere: see Medici, Giovanni de'. ...

Woolworth, Frank Winfield

(Encyclopedia)Woolworth, Frank Winfield, 1852–1919, American merchant, b. Rodman, N.Y. He established in 1879 a five-cent store at Utica, N.Y., which failed, and the same year he started a successful five-and-ten...

Poissy, Colloquy of

(Encyclopedia)Poissy, Colloquy of pwäsēˈ [key], 1561, conference of Roman Catholic prelates and Protestant ministers, initiated by Catherine de' Medici and Michel de L'Hôpital in the hope of bringing about a pe...

Chenonceaux

(Encyclopedia)Chenonceaux shənôNsōˈ [key], village, Indre-et-Loire dept., W central France, in Touraine, on the Cher River. It is famous for its château (built 1515–22), the residence, successively in the 16...

marble

(Encyclopedia)marble, metamorphic rock composed wholly or in large part of calcite or dolomite crystals, the crystalline texture being the result of metamorphism of limestone by heat and pressure. The term marble i...

Bertoldo di Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Bertoldo di Giovanni bārtôlˈdō dē jōvänˈnē [key], c.1420–91, Italian sculptor. A pupil and assistant to Donatello and later the teacher of Michelangelo, Bertoldo was employed by the Medici ...

Pozharski, Dmitri Mikhailovich, Prince

(Encyclopedia)Pozharski, Dmitri Mikhailovich, Prince dəmēˈtrē mēkhīˈləvĭch, pəzhärˈskē [key], 1578–1642, Russian hero. During the “Time of Troubles” (1598–1613), when various pretenders vied fo...

Basile, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Basile, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä bäsēˈlā [key], 1575–1632, Italian writer. Basile held several important official positions, devoting his spare time to the study of folklore...